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Got a "fat one" around here somewhere, but can't find the thing so not sure which one it is. It has about 8 gadgets or so. I don't find a lot of use for the bulky thing so it resides in a drawer or wherever I put it.

I used to backpack a lot in my teens/20's. So in 1980, my SAK Champion went with me backpacking/traveling through Europe. It was indispensable...used it daily, needing almost every tool on it at least once during that 2.5 months. I don't know how travelers get along without them these days.

This is the exact 70's knife that got me started in collecting these knives. I bought one with along with my T/C .50 Hawken in the mid 70's from Gander Mountain. I stupidly let it go in the early 80's and have been looking for one ever since. "

A few years ago I ran into a great condition AND large size Dadley knife. I didn't know what it was but I was really impressed. I wish I had bought it.

I think the blade was about 9" long ( or 8" I didn't measure it). The handle was checked black horn. The leather sheath was stamped Eddie Bauer. How much were they in the 1970s and 80s? That was a simple, but high quality knife. And elegant, too. Please tell me more about these Dadley knives!

This is the exact 70's knife that got me started in collecting these knives. I bought one with along with my T/C .50 Hawken in the mid 70's from Gander Mountain. I stupidly let it go in the early 80's and have been looking for one ever since. "

A few years ago I ran into a great condition AND large size Dadley knife. I didn't know what it was but I was really impressed. I wish I had bought it.

I think the blade was about 9" long ( or 8" I didn't measure it). The handle was checked black horn. The leather sheath was stamped Eddie Bauer. How much were they in the 1970s and 80s? That was a simple, but high quality knife. And elegant, too. Please tell me more about these Dadley knives!

They are excellent knives. Extremely well built and hold an edge well. The 70's knives were all carbon steel (1095) and I have recently found out (after correspondence with the factory) the the 80's reissues were stainless. This threw me because my original remarks on the fine edge holding quality of these knives was based on a stainless model of the Dadley. They really have the heat treat right!

Your description might have been a custom knife but the Eddie Bauer stamped sheath matches mine. The guy I bought this from took it in trade at a gunshow in the 90's...he just decided to let it go out of his collection. The orig issue 70's knives are seldom seen for sale and in 7+ years of constant research on the net looking for one...this is the only one I've found.

All the 70's-80's issue Dadleys were 6 inch blades. The more recent/current Dadleys are 5 inch and are available as kits and blades (I've read that Dexter-Russell turns out a few hundred carbon steel Green River blades a year for the re-enactor market). There are other Russell Green River knives for sale on the net (Russell arrow trademark) that are made in Germany and seem to be fine but I don't collect or have any experience with them. There are also examples available from English makers in the Sheffield tradition..

If you can find a 70's version of these knives I think you will be very impressed with the quality.

Watch eBay and other used knife sellers (all about pocket knives has them every once and a while) expect to pay between 50 and 150.00 for one. I paid about 25.00 for mine back in the 70's. They do not last long on eBay.

Here's mike Stewart of Bark River discussing them in a post over on Jerzee Devil:

The Green River Dadley Was and still is a very pracitival all purpose light knife.

It was one of the most popular of the mountian man period and they were made by Russell and a number of sheffield firms and imported by the barrel load. The Hudson Bay Company records show that they were made for the U.S. market by the millions.

The Dadley was also one of the most desierable Trade Knives with Native Americans. They used them as Knives--War Club bBades and Spear Tips.

The Great American Trapper and Explorer Jim Bridger made sure his travel packs were full of them and he even used them to make defensive spears if in hostle areas.

In case you don't know the specific knife we are talking about--here are some from a batch of Dadley's I made a while back.

I made about 150 of them and we are going to have to do another run later this year.

The Great American Outdoorsman Horace Kephart also used this pattern as his standard "do-all "field knife in the late 1800's and early 1900's.

Here again are 5 of mine. The 2 with plain handles are 80's SS reissues, the 3 on the right are 70's carbon steel and the 2 with shields are 1976 Bicentennial Issues (w/consecutive serial numbers). I have one more '76 issue in the orig box but didn't drag it out. Look at my orig thread post if you want to see it.

Thank you for the info! The Dadley I saw definitely had larger blade than the Eddie Bauer sheath one you have. About twice the size of its handle. It had same good looking checked grip panels. (I make a correction. It had black ebony wood, not black horn.) The difference is it had small head grip pins, not the large head pins.

Thank you for the info! The Dadley I saw definitely had larger blade than the Eddie Bauer sheath one you have. About twice the size of its handle. It had same good looking checked grip panels. (I make a correction. It had black ebony wood, not black horn.) The difference is it had small head grip pins, not the large head pins.

I wished you had bought that knife...I would have loved to seen it!

The 70's ones were the last ones to use the ebony wood...it was plain walnut and other wood later on. I've seen smaller pins on older Russell knives but that 5 pin arrangement is indicative of the older Russell knives as well. The '76 bicentennial set had 2 knives that were 3 pin but the Dadley retained the 5 pin construction throughout the 80's They are all 3 big pins now and the Russell carbon steel Dadley's look like the 35-244 in the picture below.

I knew I missed something. That knife was always in the back of my mind. It had Eddie Bauer sheath. I believe it was original sheath. How old does that put it?

That I can't tell you. They made millions of them over about 150 years. For sure they had EB sheaths in the 70's (I have an example and it is just like my orig bought in the 70's) but the knife you describe is non standard so I don't know. Don't know if it was the original sheath even. The only example of of an EB GR sheath I ever heard of was the one I bought. I do know that a lot of GR knives from the 20's-40's show up for sale with the 5 pin handles. Not much research has been done in this area. Google "Russell Green River Knives" and you get lots of questions and not a lot of definitive answers. Google that then choose "images" and look for one like you saw. Might narrow the search to "Green River Dadley".

Supposed to be a use for the ridges on the 2004 Dadley's you made? They don't appear agressive enough to be used as a saw.

I do like that style however, it helps to identify the sharp from the dull edge without cutting myself first.

Who is Dadley, someone's name or?

Oh, and the 5-pin handles looks much classier IMHO.

I did not make them...Bark River Knives did and that was Mike Stewart's post. I wish I had that skill! I've had a couple of Green River kits for 6 years and haven't tackled them yet....the no power tools thing is holding me back!

Yes. the serrations they are "jimping" so you can tell which side is the sharp edge. They are ok I guess but good knife/sheath discipline makes it unnecessary for me.

The 5 pin were always my favs!

I do not remember where the name came from but it's old...
I found it on page 5 of the booklet included w/ the Bicentennial issues:

Swiss issue solder's knives were all dated on the main blade per contract spec. The civilian version Pioneers were not dated but sometimes when a warranty repair was made or shortage of the standard blades occurred, Swiss Army contract blades were used making a unique combination.

Bought a nice 60's-70's Erik Frost Mora off ebay last week. The laminated blade was lightly cleaned and handle repainted but is a nice, solid user. I already had the Unica sheath from my Classic No 2's bought last year (replaced with a Sharpshooter sheath). All in all, not a bad knife for 9 bucks.

I also have examples of this laminated blade model knife from the 80's (center) and from 2012 (top). You can see the transition into a sleeker profile.

Was able to pick up a NOS K J Eriksson Mora #1 with orig sheath off eBay this week.

This knife has a laminated carbon steel blade and is the #1 size which is slightly smaller than the knives in the last post. The blade had a slight bit of tarnish in a couple of spots from storage. It was a good catch because of the condition, vintage (50's-60's I think because of the peened pommel) and it was a maker/size I did not have.

The red carbon steel 2/0 was bought to cut leather and then the Orig Classic 2/0 with plain birch handle was bought when I found out they were being discontinued. The Orig Classic 2/0 has a laminated carbon steel blade and full length tang but at almost 3X the price of the std red 2/0. At 6 1/2" overall, the 2/0's are a nice size to fit in my leather tools box.

The last 2 pics show recent acquisitions. A 50's-60's vintage KJ Eriksson 1/0 Classic (also shown in 1st pic) and an older full tang Frost's 611 (compared to a Frost's #2). The 611 is a Classic #1 with a finger guard.

The 510 is the newer Mora carbon steel reissue and the 545 is an older KJ Eriksson with the discontinued Sandvik 12C27M stainless blade. The black handled 545 was made for a company named Falcon who sold it under their brand name. Reg 545's had a blue handle.